Family of woman killed in bus crash intends to sue TTC, drivers involved

The family of a 43-year-old woman killed in a collision between a TTC bus and a crane truck intends to sue the transit commission and both drivers involved in the crash.

In their first media appearance since Jadranka Petrova’s death last week, the slain woman’s husband and daughter spoke of their overwhelming grief, urging other TTC drivers “to be careful and to be responsible.”

“We don’t want anybody to feel how we feel now,” said the victim’s daughter, Irena Petrova.

Though police have not yet charged either driver in the crash, they revealed last week that the 52-year-old TTC operator was found at the scene with a substance believed to be marijuana. He has been relieved of his duties.

The crash, which occurred last Tuesday on Lawrence Avenue near the Don Valley Parkway, killed Jadranka Petrova and injured 13 other passengers. Investigators have said the bus appeared to be in the process of changing lanes when it rear-ended the truck-mounted crane.

“We will be filing a statement of claim on behalf of the Petrova family, and we expect at some point, probably in the not-too-distant future, we will be hearing from some of the other seriously injured plaintiffs,” lawyer John McLeish said, noting it was too soon to discuss a dollar amount.

Irena Petrova recalled seeing the accident on television, even before she knew her mother was involved, and being overcome by a horrible premonition.

“I just saw the bus and I was screaming and crying, and I said, ‘my mother.’ I told my father, ‘My mother’s in the bus, I’m sure she was there. And I feel it,’” Irena Petrova recalled.

When they arrived on scene, she said, a police officer showed them her mother’s identification.

“I asked, ‘Is she OK?’ And he said, ‘No, she died,’” Irena Petrova said. “This was a day when the world broke on us. And that feeling is terrible, I can’t explain it.”

Jadranka Petrova met her future husband, Donco Petrov, when they were teenagers. Originally from Kavadarci, Macedonia, the family came to Canada in stages between 2008 and 2010 as refugees, citing persecution linked to their status as an ethnic minority, Roma. The couple’s son, Tose, remains overseas.

Mr. Petrov remembered his wife as an “excellent woman. Completely. For everything, for everyone.” Mother and daughter had been taking English classes, and the family was active in the volunteer community.

Once their immigration status was settled, Jadranka Petrova planned to find a job as a law clerk. On the day she died, she had just made an appointment to get her G2 driver’s licence.

Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Mr. Petrov and his wife enjoyed attending hockey games together. Despite being married for a quarter-century, the couple were by each other’s side “24 hours, seven days,” Mr. Petrov said, noting anyone who met his wife, even just once, loved her.

“My wife seemed like [a] magnet,” Mr. Petrov said.

Jadranka Petrova’s body will be sent back to Macedonia for a funeral, slated to take place this weekend. Donco Petrov and Irena Petrova will not be able to attend, for fear of persecution in their home country.